magazine archive
magazine archive
Investment Trusts
How to analyse investment trust discounts
Thursday 29 May 2025Discounts to the value of assets held, and more rarely premiums, are par for the course when it comes to investment trusts. These are best understood as the gap between the share price and the net asset value (NAV). For example, a trust with 100p of assets per share and a 95p share price trades at...
Revealed: the trusts which did best through tariff turbulence
Thursday 01 May 2025The period since ‘Liberation Day’ – when the Trump administration announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs – has been extremely volatile and ultimately negative for financial markets. This is reflected in the average performance of the investment trust universe which, excluding VCTs, comes in at -1.9...
Discover high-yielding share-focused investment trusts
Thursday 24 Apr 2025When markets are volatile and the value of your portfolio is moving around on a day-to-day basis there can be some comfort to take from investments which offer a steady stream of income. The problem is, dividends can sometimes cut or cancelled in the face of uncertainty. Investment trusts, also...
How investment trusts can use gearing to enhance returns
Thursday 10 Apr 2025This article looks at investment trusts and gearing, specifically the ability of trust managers to borrow money to invest. With the help of industry body the Association of Investment Companies, we have crunched some data on gearing levels in the investment trust universe. Overall the average...
Investment trusts are bowing to shareholder pressure
Thursday 03 Apr 2025Investment trusts are in the spotlight after Saba Capital’s high-profile campaign put boards under extra pressure to address persistently wide discounts to net asset value (NAV) across the sector. The positive news is boards are responding, taking action to make their trusts more shareholder-...
Why Alliance Witan is well positioned to outperform
Thursday 27 Mar 2025A big takeaway from 2024 was the big uptick in investment trust consolidation. It was a record year for mergers in the sector and the landmark deal was the combination between Alliance Trust and Witan to form Alliance Witan (ALW) . Completed in October, the merger created a global sector giant with...
Revealed: the best performing investment trusts so far in 2025
Thursday 20 Mar 2025So far 2025 is shaping up to be an unpredictable and difficult year for investors, but for one part of the financial markets there has been some positivity. Last October, investment trusts were languishing at an average discount to NAV (net asset value) of 17%, the largest since the financial...
Continuation votes are back on the agenda as investment trusts aim to appease investors
Thursday 06 Mar 2025With Saba Capital having turned the spotlight on a handful of underperforming investment trusts, there is now a wave of activity as other trusts look for ways to reduce the persistent discount to NAV (net asset value) which has dogged the asset class. Some have introduced ‘discount control’...
How ‘all-weather’ global trust Brunner can get back on track
Thursday 20 Feb 2025With more than half a century of unbroken dividend hikes under its belt, Brunner (BUT) aims to provide long-term growth in capital and dividends by investing in global and UK equities with an ‘all-weather’ approach designed to adapt to different market conditions. To achieve this resilience, co-...
Why Nick Train is excited about digital winners, the domestic stock market and drinks giant Diageo
Thursday 06 Feb 2025With a sense of anticipation Shares scurried along to Finsbury Growth & Income Trust’s (FGT) latest AGM (annual general meeting) at London’s Guildhall on a wet and windy day (28 January), where shareholders turned up in droves and one or two left the assembled board members squirming in their...